Little Rat
by bronzoar
Summary: Lizzie got the feeling that Sebastian didn't like her.


A/N: Okay, uh, this is kinda...an alternate character interpretation of Lizzie. And it portrays Sebastian in a less-than-nice light. And it contains heavily implied Sebastian/Ciel. Warnin' right here.

Lizzie got the feeling that Sebastian didn't like her.

It wasn't anything he said; he was nothing if not completely polite to her. And it certainly wasn't anything he'd ever done, because Lizzie couldn't remember once that Sebastian did anything that Ciel didn't order. If anything, it was the way he looked at her.

Lizzie couldn't place it, but it made her feel...uncomfortable. Perhaps a little insignificant. His smiles and gesturing, gloved hands seemed to have a dark edge to them. Like a sip of something that didn't taste right, had gone a little bad. A rotten dessert that was on Lizzie's plate- ugly and mean and wrong. Lizzie desperately tried to avoid his wine red gaze, but it was impossible. To see Ciel was to face Sebastian again, and his plesantly grotesque smiles that made her so frightened, somewhere deep that Lizzie kept tucked inside.

She'd told Paula, who had responded with her jangly laughter and worried forehead. "Women must keep secrets, right...?"

Lizzie had agreed, but it still was so unnerving...he was like a cat, she thought. Just waiting for the moment to strike, to keep her out of the picture, to ensnare and steal something Lizzie had wanted ever since she was a little girl, playing with Phantomhive toys, Ciel's parents hand in hand, hers mirroring them. Perfect couples that Lizzie wanted to emulate, wanted to show her mom and dad that she wasn't just a kooky, dumb girl with nothing to offer...

Lizzie sighed, clutching Ciel's coat tighter. He had agreed to go on an outing with her. Their marriage date loomed ever nearer and nearer; Lizzie was excited, of course, but she couldn't say the same for Ciel.

Or his butler, whom was accompanying them.

"Sebastian, you mind not stepping so close?" Ciel snapped, batting the butler away. Sebastian nodded, that Stygian grin spreading on his face.

Lizzie liked to study Ciel, sometimes. When he wasn't looking. Just in profile- the slight snub of his nose, his roundish cheeks, his hard blue eyes. Handsome wasn't the right word. Something prettier. Lizzie often thought Ciel might look better in her dresses than she did, but she knew she'd never find out.

Sebastian clutched Ciel's shoulder protectively. "Young master, there is something you must know."

Lizzie blinked at Sebastian obliviously, and the large hand that separated Lizzie and Ciel. Lizzie prayed that he could not read her thoughts. There's nothing to read, Lizzie chanted in her mind. I'm just Ciel's dumb fiancée, please don't do this, please don't take him away from me...

"What is it?" Ciel asked, his tone measured and clipped.

"I believe it best we return to the Phantomhive estate. It has come to my attention- "

"Oh! Can't we stay longer? I've missed so much with Ciel away!" Lizzie cried, clenching her fists. It was strange, but Lizzie had the feeling that if they left, she would be sent away once more. And Lizzie couldn't bear the thought of Ciel in that mansion, alone, with that butler, the servants away, and that cat clawing at him, playing with his soul like a puppet on a string...

"Young master is quite famous. Danger lurks at every corner, as they say." Sebastian offered politely, staring Lizzie in the eye. Lizzie tried to keep her face disappointed, enamored with Ciel, blank, expressionless, anything at all that wasn't fear itself, presented on a neat silver platter.

"Take us back, Sebastian. I've had enough of this anyway." Ciel said, glancing sharply at Lizzie.

Her heart ached.

"Fine! If you say so, Ciel. I hope we're safe from those spooky dangers Sebastian was talking about." Lizzie said, giggling half-heartedly. She offered her hand to Ciel once more. "Shall we go?"

Ciel strode past her. "Yes."

Lizzie's heart ached once more as she followed glumly, staring down at her shoes for but a moment before bounding after Ciel. "Ciel! Wait for me, you walk too fast!"

* * *

"Young master is attending to some other matters. He won't make it for dinner. He offers his condolences, and hopes you will stay despite."

Lizzie didn't want to eat dinner. Especially not with Sebastian near the head of the room, just to her left, where Paula stood closely and protectively. Lizzie hoped that when Ciel and she were married, things would be different.

Lizzie had a good imagination, but not one good enough to imagine Ciel sweeping her off her feet. Or even making it in time for dinner. Lizzie pictures conversational and faceless princes that would fill the role.

"Oh, yes! Just in case he makes it!" Lizzie cheers excitably, clapping her hands.

Sebastian gives her a look that clearly says that, no, Ciel would not, but Lizzie keeps her word, and stays for dinner.

* * *

It's almost midnight, and Lizzie had never stayed up this late in her entire life before, but she had to try. She wanted to talk to Ciel alone. Maybe even tell him what sort of things she should about. Like her hopes and dreams and impressing her mama and how Sebastian made her feel and how much she loved him, with all her heart and everything she owned.

Lizzie wanted to talk to him alone more than anything, but there was always something between them. Even if it was just Paula, walking at her side, or Sebastian, with his gloved hands pulling them apart, talking about danger, when all Lizzie saw was that exactly when she stared into those evil irises of red.

Ciel's room wasn't quiet. Creeping into the hallway, Lizzie pressed her ear to the door, listening hard. Who could it be? Lizzie knew the answer, deep in her heart, but didn't want to risk a guess that could come true and hurt her in the end.

"I'm not worried about it." Lizzie heard Ciel's voice, calm and always composed. She adored that voice.

"Perhaps you should be worried about it, young master."

"What are you proposing? That it's anything other than an obligation, or a distraction for the queen? You are no one to tell me anything different."

"Quite contrary, I've grown fond of you, despite the circumstances. Wouldn't you agree?"

"No."

"Your charm confounds me, young master..."

"Sebastian. Don't- "

"Start worrying, Ciel. I wouldn't your soul to be tainted by such incapable hands. I've known souls to change dramatically from the slightest - "

"Kiss me." Ciel ordered, and Lizzie could picture the cold, hard look on his face, speaking the words that he would never speak to her.

"Yes, my lord." That smile, too. That scared her more than she could say.

Lizzie ran quickly and as noisily as she could to the restroom, footfalls echoing through the hall, hoping someone would care enough to check out the disturbance, and find Lizzie crying her stupid, stupid eyes out. She didn't understand. She didn't want to.

Ciel, and his butler. It would always be them. Lizzie realized, washing her face, that it wouldn't ever be her that Ciel turned to. What could she do for him? She couldn't keep him safe. She couldn't fix his tea or kiss him how he liked or even be anything more than a distraction to him.

That was Sebastian's job.

Now, she just had to act the part, and stay happy. Because if that was all she could do for Ciel, she would do it best she could. Lizzie hoped her eyes wouldn't be swollen when she woke up tomorrow. Or maybe she could get into some of Paula's make up.

Would Ciel like it if she wore make up? Color her lips in red, like his aunt? She cried at Angelina Phantomhive's funeral. Ciel wasn't there, or so she thought, until he burst through the doors with a red dress.

"Plain colors do not suit my aunt. Her favorite color..."

Lizzie saw Ciel cry, and she couldn't help but hiccup and sob through the day, too. His heartbreak was her heartbreak. It wasn't the other way around, though. Thank goodness, because it wouldn't suit Ciel to be the mess that Lizzie was.

Lizzie stared at herself in the mirror, checking out her blonde hair coming out of the ringlets, her red face, a fingerpainting of tears and snot. Lizzie almost felt sorry for Ciel, for having to marry her. And selfish still, for wanting it to happen.

Two knocks sounded at the door.

"Yes?" Lizzie said, trying to sound bright. "I'm sorry for waking anyone up! I drank too much at din- "

Sebastian stepped in the bathroom, his bright red eyes shifting in color. "No need for apologies, Miss Elizabeth. I wished only to see what the trouble was."

Lizzie backed up against the counter. She was sure he could see everything. The tears still leaking out of her eyes and the thoughts coursing through her head and the secrets she kept.

"N-nothing, Sebastian. I'm fine, thank you for coming to get me!" Lizzie tried, her hopeless grin snapping in half. "Really!"

"Is that so." Sebastian ventured, taking a step closer to the girl, his smile too deep and dark, overwhelming. Lizzie couldn't breathe. "Because, I can quite distinctly recall, while Ciel and I were conversing," he pauses for emphasis, his big hands coming up to cover Lizzie's quivering lips, "I heard a little rat."

His hands stifle anything Lizzie could've said. Her words come up and die in her mouth. It tastes rotten-

"Could it be, you are jealous?" Sebastian says, his gaze hellish and hot.

Lizzie feels anger flare up in her stomach, and she lashes out. "I think you're the one that is jealous! So, so just. Leave me alone...please."

Lizzie's too terrified to see his reaction, so she snaps back into character.

"Ah! What weird things are you talking about? I'm so sleepy...nighty night, Sebastian!"

And she rushes out of there fast as she entered, jumping back into bed like there was a monster underneath, ready to grab her ankles, and Lizzie shuts her eyes.


End file.
